Wondering if anyone has any recommendations for any general histories of the USSR that focus heavily on how the state was administered poltically and economically and how that changed over time. I'm particularly interested in the various ways democracy did or did not manifest within the Party, within unions and within whatever civic institutions existed. How were decisions about economic planning made--who made them and with input from whom? Under what circumstances did ordinary citizens have a say about what happened in their communities? What avenues for social mobility (in school, the workplace or in the Party apparatus) could people take advantage of? Also interested in these same questions in the non-Russian SRs of the Union.

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From reading through previous threads on similar topics I've seen recommendations for Tony Cliff's trilogy of Building the Party, All Power to the Soviets, and Revolution Besieged. These seem interesting, but generally I'm looking for something with a wider scope. I'm not well-versed in Soviet History so I'd also like to be able to get a general background and context from whatever book I read, rather than something that's mostly speaking to academics or people who already have a solid grasp on the subject.

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Years ago in college I read Geoffrey Hosking's The First Socialist Society for a class, but I hardly remember anything from it and have since lost my copy. Should I just look for that again? I wanted to see if anyone had any other suggestions before I checked out these two authors.

Yesterday I saw someone on r/europe recommending a book "A People's Tragedy" by Orlando Fidges to anybody who is interested in Russian revolution.

I read it myself couple of years ago and I did not notice any bias, but that was pretty much my first book on the subject so I had nothing to compare the book to. After reading it I recall reading an article that the book is just a bit right-biased (can't find it the article anymore though) and there was also considerable critique of Orlando Fidges book "The Whisperers", which apparently contains a lot of inaccuracies. The link I posted here is just one of the few places where this book is criticized.

My question is, is the book "A People's Tragedy" recommendable to someone who wants to learn about the subject and how biased is the book?

Would you agree that it would be better to recommend books by Sheila Fitzpatrick and Richard Pipes over books by Orlando Fidges on this subject?

I'm very interested in the medieval era, and specifically in fighting techniques. I've been reading a lot of books that cover the general history of the medieval era, but nothing really covers things like how men dressed and prepped for combat, and what training they would go through to become soldiers and knights. Any recommendations?

Any recommendations for an overview of French History? I'm thinking something analogous to "The English and Their History" by Robert Tombs. Understanding that something of that scope might not exist, do you have any combo recommendations that you feel might give an overview that is somewhat similar in breadth? I've checked the extensive reading list but felt a bit overwhelmed by the sheer numbers and specificity of some of the recommendations!

Hi, friend is coming to US so he's offered to buy some books for me. im looking for broad topics, starters on history as i find stuff hard to find in my country... Im looking for books on:

- French Revolution/Napoleonic Warfare

- Eastern Front(mainly USSR perspective) or Red Army warfare in ww2

- Dutch Golden Age or Eighty Years war, forming of dutch republic etc- Books on renaissance warfare, mercenaries, free companies, stuff like that- Something on Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army in Ukraine/Makhno

- Feudalism, or a book on social hierarchy, government type and transitions throughout history

- Enlightenment

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also looking for any "general" must reads, which concern a bigger scope of human history, im basically stockpiling now, given the chance

hope someone answers, cheers!

Looking for a book about precolonial subsaharan Africa, read a few text books and took a class about colonial times (1870 and after) and would like to fill my gaps about pre colonial cultures.

What would be a good starting point for the political structure of Bronze Age Ancient Near Eastern civilizations, as well as the philosophical thinking (such as divine right/nobilisse oblige/etc., what it was right/wrong for a monarch to do) and general populace views (such as whether or not some king was a tyrant or just doing what kings did) of Bronze Age ANE monarchies?

I'm looking for a history of the cartels (American/European, but a more global perspective would be great). I'm not sure whether the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie; VOC) might be included since I'm still discovering it's origins and influence. Basically a broad history of events leading up to the legislation and action against anti-trust/anti-competition that led to the Sherman and Clayton Acts being passed. And parallel legislation in Europe. I apologize if the scope is too wide, but I'd appeciate if you could share work/books covering narrower, specific aspects of the history of competition as well.